Robotics Utilization for Healthcare Digitization in Global COVID-19 Management

TLDR

Robotics in healthcare are increasingly used to reduce person‑to‑person contact and facilitate cleaning, sterilization, and support in hospitals and quarantine settings, complementing telemedicine. The study aims to underscore the role of medical robotics in COVID‑19 management and advise hospital administrators on maximizing robotic deployment for clinical procedures. Deploying medical robots lowers the risk to healthcare workers and was instrumental in Korea’s and China’s successful control of the pandemic.

Abstract

This paper describes the evolving role of robotics in healthcare and allied areas with special concerns relating to the management and control of the spread of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The prime utilization of such robots is to minimize person-to-person contact and to ensure cleaning, sterilization and support in hospitals and similar facilities such as quarantine. This will result in minimizing the life threat to medical staff and doctors taking an active role in the management of theCOVID-19 pandemic. The intention of the present research is to highlight the importance of medical robotics in general and then to connect its utilization with the perspective of COVID-19 management so that the hospital management can direct themselves to maximize the use of medical robots for various medical procedures. This is despite the popularity of telemedicine, which is also effective in similar situations. In essence, the recent achievement of the Korean and Chinese health sectors in obtaining active control of the COVID-19 pandemic was not possible without the use of state of the art medical technology.